José Ortega Spottorno

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José Ortega Spottorno, Spanish journalist and publisher (born Nov. 13, 1916, Madrid, Spain—died Feb. 18, 2002, Madrid), founded Alianza Editorial (1966), Spain’s major publisher of affordable quality paperback books, and El País (1976), which grew to become the country’s best-selling newspaper. Although plans for El País were first announced in 1971, it was not until after Gen. Francisco Franco’s death that Ortega Spottorno published his ideologically independent newspaper, encouraging its readers to create a more open, socially liberal Spain after the years of repression and isolation under Franco. Ortega Spottorno also relaunched Revista de Occidente, a cultural periodical originally founded in 1923 by his father, the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, and wrote a family memoir, Los Ortega (2002).